Forty-nine-year-old Sarabjit Singh was an Indian death row convict lodged in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore in Pakistan since 1991. A Pakistani court convicted him for spying and causing bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad in 1990 which killed 14 people.

He was a native of Punjab's Bhikhiwind township in Punjab's Tarn Taran district which borders Pakistan. His wife Sukhpreet Kaur and two daughters Swapandeep and Poonam Kaur still live there.

Sarabjit's family claims he inadvertently crossed into Pakistan in August 1990 in an inebriated state and was arrested there. But police in Pakistan say Sarabjit, known as Manjit Singh there, was involved in acts of terrorism.

Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur has been spearheading the demand for his release from the Pakistan jail. Four years ago, Pervez Musharraf, then the Pakistan president, stayed Sarabjit's execution after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for clemency.